Economic History

The Economic Effects of the Great War

Patrick O'Brien assess the devastating impact of the 'war to end all wars' on an international economic order that had seemed, pre-1914, relatively sturdy.

The Entrepreneurial State, 1700-1914

Did the British state help the UK's transformation into a position of world industrial dominance? Were 'gentlemen capitalists' or no-nonsense industrialists fawned on or frustrated by government and its agents? Martin Daunton addresses a controversial historical debate.

The Birmingham Coiners, 1770-1816

John Powell chronicles the activities of a Midlands ring of counterfeiters whose activities open a window on the economic and social ambiguities of late Georgian England.

Japanese Women at Work, 1880-1920

What was it like to be a 'boiled octopus' in the silk mills of Japan before the First World War? Janet Hunter looks at the life and conditions of the women who bore the brunt of Japan's rapid industrialisation.